When Katrina Mazier was recently named 2018 Miss Green Bay Area, she embraced the crown as an opportunity to speak out about mental health issues and teen suicide, vowing to share her own story of a traumatic childhood that included bullying, sexual assaults and an attempt to take her own life.

The sharing of that message includes speaking to USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin for this video that is part of the ongoing Kids in Crisis series.

Mazier, a 19-year-old University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh student from Appleton, said she has struggled with anxiety, was sexually assaulted more than once and attempted suicide the summer before her junior year in high school.

She credits counselors who intervened with helping her find her way. She wants others in similar situations to gain strength from her story.

"There are ways that we can continue to talk about it and that we can stop the stigma and remind others that they need to (understand), no matter what, that mental illness is something that you can fight and something that we can help to end," Mazier said at a recent Kids in Crisis town hall in Appleton.